Anzhi Matchthread

[fowler9]

another Europa League game tomorrow, could do with a result if we are to progress after the Udinese game, think we should make a fair few changes though as we need to win the Everton game more

 

 

--------------Jones-------------

Johnson--Carra----Coates--Enrique

---Shelvey--Henderson--Sahin----

Pacheco------Yesil---------Assaidi

 

subs

Gulacsi

Skrtel

Robinson

Allen

Cole

Downing

Morgan

 

wouldn't even consider Suarez for this one, can't afford to lose him for the league games, would rather not start Johnson either but one of him or Wisdom is going to have play both games assuming Flanagans still injured, same with Shelvey and Sahin but I'd play them both and pick whichever one plays better for the Derby, probably no chance of Pacheco playing but I want him to

 

know fuck all about Anzhi apart from the obvious players as I find Russian football to be utter shite whenever I watch it, would imagine any team with Eto'o in is bound to be a threat but also any team who pays Chris Samba that amount of money can be considered a little bit clueless

[xerxes]

I don't think that it is right to dismiss Russian football, but I do agree that Anzhi are an unquantifiable Euro force.

 

Although FSG have made clear that their priority is the league, and winning CL qualification, gaining Euro experience is vital for Rodgers, and a Euro presence vital to retain and attract the better players.

 

The game is unpredictable and uncertain- which is what I love about Euro football.

[The Golden Eel]

This is the least optimistic I've been about getting a result this season. They're a good side and they'll come here to win. We'll stick out a weakened side and probably lose, ultimately going out of the tournament.

[silverlining]

Russian football has had a load of oil money poured into it, so there's a few decent teams back on the scene, and we all know the absurd wages Anzi are paying to mercenaries like Eto'o.

 

I'm not really bothered about this game or competition, though. It's nice to win trophies, but this and the Carling Cup are very much low priorities. That said, low priority competitions are usually an opportunity to play trhe kids and the stiffs, but since the kids are all in the first team, it'll be mostly stiffs.

 

So the likes of Henderson, Cole (if fit), Downing, Enrique, Carragher (oh no! He's a stiff now!) etc.

[stringvest]

I'm looking forward to the racism and particularly the sense of menace and danger that the away leg will bring.

[fowler9]

I don't think that it is right to dismiss Russian football.

 

I just don't ever enjoy watching any games in it for whatever reason, I also find a hell of a lot of Russian players to be very overrated

[sir roger]

I just don't ever enjoy watching any games in it for whatever reason, I also find a hell of a lot of Russian players to be very overrated

 

I've enjoyed some of the national team's performances, but whenever I have stumbled on Russian League games on ESPN or wherever they seem absolutely turgid stuff played in largely empty stadiums ( presumably because most of the fans are in the woods at a pre-arranged rumble ).

[firelightez]

i would start cole, at least get something out of a guy who were paying 90k a week to

[Gym Beglin]

Dare we risk Jones?

 

----------------Jones---------------

 

Wisdom-----Skrtel---Coates----Enrique

 

--------Henderson--Sahin------------

 

--------------Shelvey---------------

 

Cole--------------------------Assaidi

 

--------------Morgan----------------

 

 

 

It's amazing really how much difference Lucas will make to the whole team when you think about it.

Sahin/Shelvey and Allen/Suso can push forward, Gerrard can play wide right, Sterling and Assaidi can share the workload on the left.

[John McClane]

In previous years this game would be used to test players like Sterling, Shelvey, Wisdom etc..

Now we want them to play in the derby, how times can quickly change.

Id start Cole and Downing, give them Anfield as their stage for an evening and see if they deserve to be here. Id also like to see Shelvey again, he seems to like this competition.

Jones

Johnson - Carra - Coates - Enrique

Sahin - Henderson - Shelvey

Cole - Morgan - Downing

[Jairzinho]

Jones

Wisdom Skrtel Coates Enrique

Henderson Sahin

Pacheco

Downing Morgan Assaidi

 

That'll let us rest Reina, Agger, Johnson, Allen, Suso, Gerrard, Shelvey, Sterling, and Suarez for Sunday.

[aRdja]

----------------Jones------------------

Wisdom--Coates---Agger--Robinson

-------Henderson---Shelvey---------

Downing-----Pacheco------Assaidi

---------------Suarez---------------

 

Bring Cole on for Suarez around min 60-65 and swap his position with Pachecos', if we're winning

[bouncebrigade]

That Samba sounds like a proper quilt.

 

A recent television show on French channel M6 offered an insight into why little-known Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala is proving such a draw with some of the world's top players.

Entitled "the dream life of Samuel Eto'o", the programme followed the Cameroon striker and his architect as he sized up his new penthouse apartment in downtown Moscow.

Eto'o joined Anzhi from Inter in August 2011

Eto'o, the highest paid player on the planet who is reported to be on £350,000 per week, nodded approvingly at his private lift, 360 degree views, sauna and swimming pool before baulking at the size of the wall-mounted television in his living room.

A brief exchange follows in which Eto'o makes it clear that he wants a screen at least three metres wide, prompting the documentary-makers to ask who will pay the bill. "I will, then the club will pay me back," is the player's matter-of-fact reply.

Last year's capture of former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Eto'o, a three-time Champions League winner and still only 30 at the time, was the moment the world woke up to the revolution taking place in a region of southern Russia better known for poverty and violence.

Since they were taken over by local billionaire Suleiman Kerimov in January 2011, Anzhi have splashed out more than £110m to bring in the likes of former Brazil left-back Roberto Carlos - now the club's sporting director - ex-Chelsea full-back Yuri Zhirkov, former Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra and ex-Blackburn defender Christopher Samba.

Under the astute management of veteran Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, the club, who were in the Russian second tier as recently as 2009, have climbed to the top of the Premier League after 12 games and are unbeaten in this season's Europa League going into Thursday evening's group game with Liverpool at Anfield.

Congolese defender Samba, who was linked with moves to Tottenham and Arsenal before plumping for the Russian side, rejects the idea that players are purely motivated to join the club for monetary gain.

• £23.7m Samuel Eto'o from Inter

• £15.8m Lacina Traore from Kuban Krasnodar

• £13.2m Yuri Zhirkov from Chelsea

• £12.3m Christopher Samba from Blackburn

• £12.3m Balazs Dzsudzsak from PSV

• £8.8m Jucilei from Corinthians

• £7m Mbark Boussoufa from Anderlecht

"This is a very ambitious club and we have attracted a lot of players," Samba, 28, told BBC Sport. "This is not just about money - this is a proper sports project.

"People don't come here just to chill and win a pay cheque. We are putting in a shift on the pitch and at the moment it's working."

Founded in 1991, Anzhi had yo-yoed between the Russian first and second divisions before Kerimov's takeover.

The billionaire, who made his fortune from potash and gold, was granted control of the club by the president of Dagestan in exchange for a commitment to regenerate a region where violent clashes involving insurgents, criminal gangs and local police are a regular occurrence.

The volatility means players such as Eto'o and Samba live and train in Moscow before flying 1,250 miles to Dagestan for home games in their rickety 16,000-seat stadium in Makachkala.

"It's not a problem because the club puts you in the best conditions," says Samba. "It's a two-hour first-class flight.

"We are trying to improve the connection with the region by spending more time there and doing a little bit more with the population and the fans. This will come in time."

Igor Rabiner, author of several books on Russian football, says the Anzhi story is as much about football as it is about social change.

"Kerimov will take an active part in the building of a new city just outside Makhachkala, where the club will compete in a new 45,000-seat stadium," he says.

"They want to build artificial pitches all over the region and set up Anzhi academies for local kids. They want to change the image of the region."

Anzhi's meteoric rise has fostered resentment among their rivals. When they took on Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the Lokomotiv Stadium in August, fans of Moscow clubs turned up in force to chant nationalist abuse at the Anzhi players and booed the Lokomotiv club president when she took her seat in the stands.

When Russia played Serbia last August at the same stadium, Zhirkov's every touch was booed by supporters resentful of his decision to spurn the Moscow clubs in favour of Anzhi's advances.

"Anzhi are hated by other fans, especially by radical fans of the Moscow clubs and Zenit St Petersburg," says Rabiner.

"It's like a mixture of national hate and financial hate. Anzhi represents the Caucasus mountains and the south of Russia - and there is very little warmth towards them from Russian nationalists."

Anzhi's impressive performances this season have done little to endear them to their rivals and suggest Liverpool are in for a tough assignment.

They have scored 24 goals in 12 league games, beating Dinamo Moscow and Spartak Moscow in their last two outings to move two points clear of CSKA.

Eto'o has scored 14 times in all competitions while Samba has marshalled a defence that has conceded only once in eight Europa League games.

The former Ewood Park favourite is happy for the resentment to continue as long as the team keeps up its winning momentum.

"We are unpopular because people can't understand how a club that won the second division [three years ago] are now title contenders," adds Samba.

"But there are billionaires everywhere. Look at Manchester City. Did they achieve something? Yes, they became champions. What about Chelsea? Did they become a big club? Yes.

"People have to accept that we are here and we are going to fight to stay where we are."

[bouncebrigade]

I disagree that the Europa League is unimportant and that they we can be so blase to dismiss it as such. It is, unfortunately, our level at the moment. Sure getting a result on Sunday is more important. But I think it would be a not insignificant setback if we didn't get out of the group in Europe.

 

I think at home against these guys, even with a weakened team, we should be well able to go out and get a result. Look at what our young lads did to a top 8 Premiership team (West Brom) in the last round of the Carling Cup.

[John McClane]

So they average 2 goals a game.

In Europa League, they have conceded 1 goal in 8 games.

What makes you think our second team will win tomorrow night?

[bouncebrigade]

So they average 2 goals a game.

In Europa League, they have conceded 1 goal in 8 games.

What makes you think our second team will win tomorrow night?

 

Because we're Liverpool and are at home where we should expect to beat everyone who turns up.

 

If you want to talk stats, we've averaged 3 goals a game in this competition.

 

It won't be easy but I'd be confident.

[A.V.B.]

It's not just about money? Yeah right, I suppose it was the floods, ethnic tensions and terrorism that really attracted them to the region?

 

Ball sack Dudak was looking like he could have been a quality player and then he sold out. I mean Eto'o you can understand, what more did he have to prove but ball sack is only 25!

[Faustus]

Tough game this tomorrow, given that Anzhi will probably have a stronger line up out there than us. Hopefully some of the fringe players can pull their fingers out and put in a good performance to give Rodgers something to think about with the derby round the corner.

 

The Udinese result has really put us up against it. Could do with them running away with the group so they field a weakened team against us for the last round of games, leaving us and Anzhi fighting it out for second place.

 

Anyway, cross that bridge when it comes. Looking forward to this tomorrow. Three points would be massive for us.

[John McClane]

Because we're Liverpool and are at home where we should expect to beat everyone who turns up.

 

If you want to talk stats, we've averaged 3 goals a game in this competition.

 

It won't be easy but I'd be confident.

 

Damn right it wont be easy. These guys will make CL next year, prob final stages, I doubt we will

[Ne Moe Imya]

Anyone thinking this will be a comfortable win with second team players is deluded.

 

Anzhi are making these two games against us a serious priority, and they're a good side. They want to win to show their future targets that they're a big club, much like some of our supporters talk about getting into the top 4 so we can attract better players in the summer.

 

All that being said, I think we still must rest Suarez for this game. At least put him on the bench and don't make him play 90 minutes. I'd be happy to see Coates and Henderson get some time. Apart from that I think it will be mostly the same players who played on Saturday with a mix of a few squad players, something like:

 

Jones

 

Wisdom Skrtel Coates Enrique

 

Allen

 

Henderson Shelvey

 

Cole Yesil Sterling

 

Though I'm not at all sure about Cole or Yesil. Could be Assaidi or Downing as well.

[tcb]

Laura (@Laura_Liverbird)

22:10 24.10.12

Respect to #Anzhi leaving a wreath at the #Hillsborough memorial. pic.twitter.com/8JpvwVAQ

[Iceman]

Tough game this. Won't be easy not by a long shot. I really want us to go for it and see if we can progress. Europa league action does attract up and coming players and for that reason I want in.

 

Hoping not to see Cole or Downer. Hoping to see Yesil and Assaidi.

 

Respect to Anzhi for leaving that wreath.

 

могут лучшая команда победит

[Paco]

------------------------------------Jones-------------------------------

 

Wisdom--------------Carra-----------------Coates-----------Enrique

 

 

----------------------------------Henderson---------------------------

 

 

------------------Shelvey---------------------------Cole--------------

 

 

Downing------------------------Pacheco------------------------Assadi

[DooooodekNo5]

another Europa League game tomorrow, could do with a result if we are to progress after the Udinese game, think we should make a fair few changes though as we need to win the Everton game more

 

 

--------------Jones-------------

Johnson--Carra----Coates--Enrique

---Shelvey--Henderson--Sahin----

Pacheco------Yesil---------Assaidi

 

subs

Gulacsi

Skrtel

Robinson

Allen

Cole

Downing

Morgan

 

wouldn't even consider Suarez for this one, can't afford to lose him for the league games, would rather not start Johnson either but one of him or Wisdom is going to have play both games assuming Flanagans still injured, same with Shelvey and Sahin but I'd play them both and pick whichever one plays better for the Derby, probably no chance of Pacheco playing but I want him to

 

know fuck all about Anzhi apart from the obvious players as I find Russian football to be utter shite whenever I watch it, would imagine any team with Eto'o in is bound to be a threat but also any team who pays Chris Samba that amount of money can be considered a little bit clueless

 

 

You're team looks about right though Downing will probably start instead of Pacheco , to be fair to Downing he played well against Udinese , showed a bit of heart , it was at least acceptable for once.

 

Also Joe Cole can fuck off , hope hes nowhere near the pitch.

[moof]

Gerrard and Suarez are playing according to the guardian.